LearnmoreMN Blog

Minnesota wants race to the top

By Vallay Varro, November guest blogger

Minnesota is on a roll. This summer we came together as a state and enacted reforms that clear the path to quality pre-K for all families. And now to show support for our state’s bid in the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge — a grant program to give states federal dollars for pre-K reforms like the ones we just passed — MinnCAN (link) convened community leaders across Minnesota to express their shared commitment to early childhood education in this video.

We cannot underestimate the impact that effective early education has on a child’s life. When we prepare students to succeed in kindergarten, we give them the opportunity to be high-performers throughout their education. This means higher graduation rates and more college degrees. It means an important step towards closing our achievement gap.

Right now our achievement gap is handicapping the next generation of Minnesotans and jeopardizing our collective future. By investing in early education we can begin to close it and in turn help an economy thrive, Our Race to the Top video signals to the application reviewers that Minnesotans are serious about making sure all of our children enter kindergarten ready to learn.

Twenty-eight leaders also endorsed a letter of support, illustrating broad support for early childhood learning reforms. This letter and screenshots from our video were enclosed in Minnesota’s Race to the Top application, demonstrating that Minnesotans understand the stakes of the situation and are poised to act together.

You can reinforce that message and join the community leaders by clicking here to sign a petition in support of Minnesota’s application.

A few months back, we achieved our third campaign goal by getting Minnesota leaders to  enact a pre-K quality rating system and create scholarships for low-income families. Those reforms put Minnesota on the path to closing its achievement gap, and with the help of Race to the Top, we can continue on that path. It’s time to rally together again and show the Race to the Top reviewers just how serious Minnesota is about making sure all of our children start their education off right.

For more information on MinnCAN and our campaign goals, visit www.MinnCAN.org and follow @MinnCAN. Stay Tuned for the announcement of our 2012 Goals in the coming weeks.

Fixing Minnesota’s achievement gap requires reform

By Vallay Varro, November guest blogger

Minnesota’s achievement gap is a disservice to Minnesota students. Its implications on our economy today and tomorrow are irrefutable and enormous. By the numbers, we have the second-largest gap in the United States. The good news: We know what we need to do to reform our public schools.

Thirty-two years ago, amidst war and chaos in Laos, my family and I relocated to the United States as political refugees. We arrived with nothing more than the clothes on our backs; our perseverance and will to seek out the American dream was unstoppable. We left Laos for our safety and chose the United States for opportunity, and our vehicle to achieve the American dream: education. My parent’s convictions inspired me to graduate from high school and college, and attain a master’s degree in education policy. I share this anecdote because, with the circumstances I faced as a child, I should be a “face” of our achievement gap.

Minnesota’s achievement gap wears many faces, but the life a child is born into should not dictate his or her education opportunities. I was lucky. Education is learning, teaching and parenting. It’s also the preservation of the foundational and fundamental values that encompass our democracy, the fuel for our economic engine and the guarantor of knowledge and impact. Our collective future hinges on our ability to educate all children today, and educate them well.

We are a state rooted in progressive education policies and investments in young people. This is credited by, for example, innovative charter school laws and Post-Secondary Enrollment Options. While past achievements alone are not sufficient, they can serve as the launch pad for reform. Despite our unrivaled legacy of education innovation, we have the second-largest achievement gap in the country  between black male and white male students. Recent MCA-II (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment) results and national reports indicate a troubling picture:

• For five consecutive years, 20-40% more white students have passed the MCA-II test in reading and math compared to black and Hispanic students.
• In 2011, only 17% of black students and 23% of Hispanic students passed the grade 11 MCA-II mathematics test compared to 56% of their white peers.
• Also this year, 83% of white students passed reading, whereas 54% of Hispanic students and 48% of African-American students met state benchmarks.

The truth is, Minnesota’s achievement gap is only widening. It requires our immediate attention.

We must adopt an environment in which teachers use different teaching strategies, increase time on task and innovations that incorporate technology, critical thinking and a multidisciplinary approach to learning. Fortunately, many schools are beating the odds and effectively teaching students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It is in our best interest to make these best practices common practice.

The cause of our achievement gap isn’t a lack of knowledge. We know what we need to do, but we lack the bold leadership and political will necessary to advance the policies we know make a difference in children’s lives. Our strategy must be a multi-pronged approach to organize and mobilize ordinary people, practitioners, community leaders and policymakers to achieve the wins necessary to reconstruct public education. Luckily, many Minnesotans recognize this. Reform is on its way.

For more information, visit www.MinnCAN.org and follow #MinnCAN.

Middle schools: linking Minnesota learners to future success

By Sally Wherry, September guest blogger

We’ve fortunately come a long way since I was a middle school-aged student. My school-directed experience with high school and postsecondary planning was limited to taking the Kuder Vocational Preferences Test. Upon reviewing my results, a well-intended counselor sternly announced, “Well, Sara…it looks as if you have no interests at all.” Although this was not exactly the guidance I needed to encourage me to enroll in rigorous high school courses or to inform college and career planning, I was lucky to have a family that did! For some educators, middle schools have long been considered as merely a bridge between the elementary and high school years, serving to link one educational institution with another. Focusing on the two sides of this educational bridge has diminished the importance of the link, often leaving middle school students and parents inadequately informed about how to prepare for the possibilities and challenges that lie ahead, and sidelining middle school educators from critical alignment efforts.

My years teaching middle school students served to underscore for me the complex needs of this age group. I learned not only how important it was to engage them in their learning, but also that if engagement was the sole outcome of a lesson, it was comparable to having them jump up and down in place…active, but going nowhere. I also learned the importance of collaborating with fellow educators, but my network, although extremely valuable, was small and narrowly focused. Middle school connections to elementary curriculum and awareness of the strengths and skill gaps of individual students, as well as opportunities to collaborate with high school staff, were limited by the length of the school day, differing schedules, contractual issues, the lack of time dedicated to professional development, and the challenges of data sharing and technology. Like most Minnesota districts, our student body was also rapidly changing; many of our kids no longer fell into the white/middle class/English-speaking home demographic. How could we build a strong connection that supported the growth of all students if our one-size-fits-all structure had limited knowledge of where our kids came from or where they wanted or needed to go?

Whether you love it or hate it, the accountability requirements of NCLB have laid bare Minnesota’s dreadful Achievement Gap between white students and students of color. Commissioner Brenda Cassellius and Governor Dayton’s seven-point plan has targeted “Raising the Bar — Closing the Gap.” In order to reach this critical goal, it is imperative for us to build a stronger bridge...or middle school...that supports all of our students. It has baffled me when high school principals have confessed to limited initiatives, programs and information sharing with their feeder middle schools. We need to start amplifying our efforts to promote and support policies, such as individual learning plans (Governor’s Workforce Development Council — “All Hands on Deck”) for all students. We must partner and collaborate with other educational and community organizations to develop comprehensive strategies (P-20 — “The Road Map to College and Career Readiness”) and share resources that redesign or develop stronger middle schools…schools that provide a firm foundation that enhances individual student growth and informs decisions leading to postsecondary opportunities and success.

What strategies or efforts have you tried or observed that strengthen our middle schools?

Student success must be everyone's business

By Julie Plaut, August guest blogger

Six years ago, Minnesota Campus Compact held its first meeting focused on how colleges and universities committed to community engagement might increase student enrollment and retention in college. One of the participants’ comments really stuck with me: Campuses already know how to create systems that boost student success. They do it for student athletes, often providing both financial assistance and structured academic tutoring, as well as encouragement to enroll in the first place and a sense of belonging from their team. Since the institution has a stake in their success/eligibility to play, faculty members are expected to alert key staff if an athlete isn’t performing well in a class. This allows someone to reach out, find out what’s going on, and offer support early — success isn’t just considered the individual student’s responsibility.

That meeting happened at Augsburg College, which offers a striking example of how an institution can apply a similar approach to supporting students more generally. Augsburg’s entering class has gone from 11% students of color in 2005 to 40% in the last two years, in part because the college deliberately set out to build relationships with college access programs and to remove obstacles that could prevent lower-income students from enrolling. Scholarships are now available for participants in any college access program, and instead of requiring admitted students to pay a $150 deposit before their financial aid has kicked in, students may write a letter committing to enroll. Graduates of a nearby K-8 school, where scores of Augsburg students do service-learning, also qualify for scholarships. Many people at the college are deeply engaged with the surrounding Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, and it matters that they see the mostly Somali residents as neighbors, partners, and potential students, not simply service recipients.

The college has paid attention to retention as well. A strong connection with Admission Possible, for instance, has AP college coaches on campus and AP alumni hired as staff in student service areas. There may still be issues to address, but the institutional commitment to enrolling and supporting a more diverse student body is clear — and that’s an important step.

“Student success must be everyone’s business,” according to the authors of Student Success in College. It's not enough to know that an educated workforce is critical to our collective well-being, or even to offer diffuse college access programs. We must change policies and cultures to advance education as a public good. What other examples of effective systemic change have you seen? What other changes do you consider necessary?

Citizens League takes on higher ed reform

By Lindsey Alexander, July guest blogger

In January, the Citizens League began a multi-phase project looking at higher education in Minnesota. Higher education, as we define it here, includes post-secondary education of any kind (certificate programs, two- and four-year programs, public, private, for-profit, etc.).

The initial research, conducted as part of the project’s first phase, has included conversations with people involved in all aspects of higher education. Through these conversations a number of issues have emerged. They include:

Preparedness
Many people are concerned that a rising number of students are not adequately prepared for college-level coursework. A 2010 study by the University of Minnesota and MnSCU found that 40% of Minnesota public high school students entering a public college or university had to take at least one remedial course in math, writing or reading, up from 30% in 2000.

How can our current system of K-12 education better prepare students for the rigor of post-secondary education?

Link to K-12
Advocates of better overlap between K-12 and post-secondary believe earlier and more effective K-12 career counseling could enable students to chart a personalized path to a career, which would allow them to more efficiently acquire training, credits and experiences in ways and at institutions most relevant to their future. Helping students to identify their aptitudes and interests early on helps them to focus on–and stay interested in–the classes and programs that are most relevant to their future.

How can we create and enhance K-12 and post-secondary connections to create a more cohesive approach?

Connection with employers
Many stakeholders interviewed said that it is important to bring employers into the discussion of any reform strategy and for employers to better articulate the skills and abilities graduates need to be workforce ready. Can employers adequately articulate what they are looking for in new employees? Can institutions — both post-secondary and K-12 — measure whether students are graduating with those skills and abilities?

Much of the growth in jobs over the next decade will be in positions that require less than a bachelor’s degree, including jobs that require little post-secondary education but some degree of on-the-job training. How can we prepare students to enter the workforce after graduation from high school?

Online innovations
Numerous stakeholders voiced concern that the higher education business model has not evolved well. Many believe online learning is a major innovation in higher education.

Advocates of higher education innovation argue there are two particularly valuable characteristics of online institutions, such as Western Governors University. First, they are separate from traditional systems of higher education. There’s no pressure to fit into the traditional model of higher education so they are freer to innovate than traditional bricks and mortar institutions. Second, online colleges and universities focus solely on teaching and learning.

Critics question the rigor of online education and whether online courses can truly impart the critical thinking skills employers value. What role could and should online education play in Minnesota’s higher education system?

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What do you think of the above issues? Please post a comment to share your views. To learn more about this work go to www.citizing.org/projects/highered or read the full story on these issues in the May/June edition of MN Journal.

Making Teaching a Better Career

By Joe Graba, July guest blogger

Our country has been involved in a 30-year struggle to improve our public school system. This effort has included numerous initiatives with various aspects of the system. In the early years there was much attention given to the curriculum. We have also had major efforts to get better superintendents and principals into the system. Over the last three to five years there has been a major focus on our teachers.

Not surprisingly, there is good research-based evidence that the quality of the teachers has a huge impact on the learning that occurs. This has led to a variety of initiatives around the country aimed at addressing the teacher preparation programs. In Minnesota, the Bush Foundation has a major effort underway. Other efforts going on nationally are designed to recruit better college and university students into the teaching field. Numerous districts have developed induction and mentoring programs designed to help teachers become better in their first years of teaching.

All of these efforts should be supported and applauded. However, the other part of the task is to find ways to keep good teachers in our schools. While the percentage varies by state, nationally we lose between 40 and 50 percent of our teachers in the first five years of their career. Recent research suggests that many of those leaving are among the better teachers. So while recruiting and preparing better teachers is desirable, it probably is not enough. The other half of the task is to find ways to make teaching a better job and a better career. 

Dr. Richard Ingersoll from the University of Pennsylvania has done extensive research on teachers and the job of teaching. He compared several aspects of schools where teachers had significant involvement in the decisions about school governance to those where teachers had little or no involvement in those decisions. He found that where teacher involvement was high, teacher turnover tended to be low and where teacher involvement was low, turnover was high. Other aspects of the schools also improved (less tardiness-less vandalism) when teachers had significant involvement in school decision-making.

It is interesting to think about how other professions are organized in our society. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. have always had the option of developing their own professional practice, but teachers have been assumed to be employees of some entity — districts in most cases but some by the private/parochial sector. Does this really need to be the case? Might teachers be able to create their own professional practice and then contract with the district or chartered school to provide professional services? The answer turns out to be yes.

Minnesota now has several schools that are run by teacher professional practices (TPPs). These TPPs manage all aspects of the schools — budget, teacher selection, teacher evaluation and compensation as well as the school’s learning program and schedule. The first such TPP, at Minnesota New Country School in Henderson, started in 1994. There are now between 50 and 60 TPPs operating across the country, mostly in chartered schools but some in district schools. The Minneapolis School Board recently approved a new school for start up in 2011 that will have a TPP. Both Denver and Boston started schools with TPPs last fall.

There are many points along a continuum for teacher involvement that could help to make teaching a more attractive career. Some principals believe in shared decision-making and move on their own to create teacher involvement in their schools. In other cases the district leadership creates this expectation for all of its schools. However, the TPP is probably the ultimate in teacher empowerment. In our country’s struggle to improve public education we need to recognize that the teachers along with the students are the key players in our schools. Finding ways to attract the best people into teaching and retain them as career teachers should be among our top priorities in our efforts to improve public education.

Seeking educational equity in our state

By Kathleen O'Donnell, guest blogger

As education reform catches fire and gains focus in the Minnesota philanthropic community (see In tough economy, nonprofits refocus and Giving Forum), where is innovation being nurtured? What are the essentials to getting and maintaining educational equity in our state?

The 2009 season of The Minneapolis Foundation’s Minnesota Meeting public affairs forum focused on equity in education. Dozens of corporate and foundation sponsors helped us convene three events to foster constructive dialogue on different aspects of the issue. View a summary of a few of the recommendations generated throughout the series. Visit Minnesota Meeting.com to view all three events, download fact sheets, and read event summaries. The statistics in Minnesota speak for themselves. What do you think?

The Minneapolis Foundation’s new strategic plan (over and above donor-directed grantmaking) includes a focus on promoting social, economic, and racial equity in our community. One of the key areas towards which the Foundation will target resources to help achieve equity is through grantmaking, partnership, and leadership activities that help transform education. Learn more about The Minneapolis Foundation’s strategic plan, in particular the focus on transforming education.

What do you think the next steps should be? Where are the greatest opportunities? How should Minnesotans embrace the charge to do “whatever it takes” to ensure the success of all of our children — and thereby our future economy?